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Facebook expects India to become its largest market, aided by mobile growth

Facebook said in New Delhi on Tuesday that it expects to see its largest user base coming from India soon, with the primary driver of growth being usage on mobile phones, according to a report by The Economic Times.

Facebook announced that it had accumulated 750 million users at its July event and has since gained 50 million more. Over three quarters of these 800 million users come from outside the United States, where Facebook still has its largest footprint.

That could be set to change, as India, which is currently in third place, is likely to leapfrog Indonesia soon, which is immediately ahead of it. Facebook’s user count in India jumped 84% year-over-year and the country currently boasts of 34 million Facebook users, about a third of its entire Internet-using population, while Indonesia has 45 million. The company expects India to overtake the USA soon after.

Another interesting fact revealed by the company was that “more than twice as many people login to Facebook from mobiles than desktops globally.” This has understandably led to the company putting more of a focus on mobile platforms, which was evident by the partnership it announced with Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek at the same event.

Among the handset makers that will be using MediaTek’s new Facebook-enabled mobile platform are India’s Micromax and Spice Mobility, both of which have announced plans to introduce several entry-level handsets with Facebook integration before the end of the year. Micromax is planning the launch of five such phones, all priced below ₹ 5,000 ($100), by the end of this month.

Facebook was assured of the state government’s full support when it successfully completed its first year of operations recently in the Indian city of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, and the company has since gone on to forge partnership with carriers like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone to provide free access to the service to their respective subscribers in India.